Stadium Series Jersey Countdown (2017)

By JVDW

In Featured

Feb 23rd, 2017

14 Comments

It’s that time of the year again…the annual Stadium Series featuring 4 games2 games 1 game this Saturday (February 25) with the Battle of PA between the Penguins and Flyers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. So, it’s time to do our annual countdown of the all the Stadium Series jerseys in existence. With two new additions this year, we’re up to 15 jerseys. Where will the Flyers and Penguins fit in with the rest of them, and are either of them good enough to take top spot?

Just to be clear, design elements that are related to the league-mandated jersey templates (like 2014’s stupidly slanted sleeve numbers, or the stupidly large sleeve numbers, for example) won’t be considered, as they were league-mandated, leaving the teams with little recourse but to include them.

15. Anaheim Ducks (2014)

Yup, still at the bottom. These are little more than orange pyjamas with a bad fake-chrome jersey on them. There’s too few other elements to counteract the extremeness of the orange that completely dominates the entire uniform. It needed full sleeve stripes, as well as striping along the bottom of the jerseys, and maybe ever the shoulder yokes. Just orange is just too much, and with the black gloves and pants, it’s getting a little Halloween-esque. And in case nobody has yet mentioned it (I’ve mentioned it many times on other posts), orange and beige don’t really work together. Kudos to Jonas Hiller though, for fully embracing the monstrosity of it all, by adding an orange helmet and pads to compliment these jerseys…if you can use the word ‘compliment’. If I may offer an alternate idea for the Ducks that would have been awesome? How about the jerseys from the movie they’re originally named after?

14. Philadelphia Flyers (2017)

These are just not good jerseys. Extremely similar to the Ducks all-orange jerseys above, these all-black pyjamas get a higher spot because they have some bold orange stripes on them. I understand it’s difficult to create something amazing when you’ve already got one of the best jersey sets in the league, but this is a complete missed opportunity to do something that was at least somewhat interesting. They’re just so underwhelming and missing anything to get even the smallest amount excited about, we’ll just move along to the next jersey on the list thanks.

13. Los Angeles Kings (2015)

“Everybody’s talkin’ ’bout my white pants. I got my white pants, I got my white pants on.” White, tight, close enough. Even the coach is voicing his displeasure. Sure, this is a “jersey” countdown, but the solid colour from nipples to knees is a strange choice, and it makes it even worse when it’s white. Black, okay (see further down the list), but white? Caman! Like the Ducks’ jerseys at the bottom of the list, it’s too minimal, and needs something else to break up that white. The white helmet doesn’t help either. And using this particular jersey template for the Kings doesn’t work as well since they literally have no colours in their team branding, with the grey just looking like a dirty white. On the plus side, having two crowns on the black collar ring is a nice touch, to commemorate the Kings’ two Cup wins. And especially impactful considering the team they played wearing these jerseys. #itwas3tozero

12. New Jersey Devils (2014)

All things considered, these are fine jerseys. Then why so low? Because there’s not much to discuss. The Devils (aka Lou Lamoriello) were extremely adverse to any sort of alternative- or celebratory-anything outside of their brand. They’ve changed their designs once, in 1992, going from green-and-red to black-and-red and slightly simplifying the design of their jerseys. That’s it. So, for the Stadium Series, they’re just brought back their green-and-red jerseys, identical to what they wore pre-1992 and called it a day. As I said earlier, it’s not a bad jersey at all (although those extra white stripes on the sleeves are weird) but there’s so little creativity or celebration of anything involved, it’s hard to get excited about it at all. A complete missed opportunity, and that pushes it down this list. On the plus side, they didn’t go with a fake-chromed logo like the rest of the 2014 Stadium Series teams. And they ignored the jersey template given by the NHL. Lou Lamoriello didn’t care what Gary Bettman demanded apparently. #thuglife

11. San Jose Sharks (2015)

Using the same NHL-mandated template as the LA Kings’ jerseys this year, the Sharks at least have some colour to work with in their branding. And the template works better in this format, in the very least because their nipples-to-knees colour is black, and teal looks good on top. But why does San Jose cling to the orange as part of their visual identity? It’s barely used in their current jerseys and here? Well, it’s only used as the colour on the collar, making it look more like a choker necklace. They’ve successfully shaken off their choker status given their recent run to the Stanley Cup Finals, but it was still a thing when these jersey were worn, making it a really strange inclusion. I’m sure the Sharks organization loved even the NHL rubbing their faces in it with the jersey template. #trolling

10. Chicago Blackhawks (2016)

The lowest-ranked 2016 jersey belongs to the Blackhawks. It’s not a bad jersey per-se, but it’s just genuinely uninteresting. A white jersey with a few chunky black lines and a couple logos. It seems like there just wasn’t much effort put behind it compared to the other teams in the 2016 series. That could possibly be because this will be Chicago’s fourth outdoor game (compared to Colorado and Minnesota’s first, and Detroit’s third), so there’s only so far they’re willing to delve into their history to create interesting and/or on-brand one-off jerseys. And that cut-off date appears to be 1955 for them, so they’re starting to run out of options. Or there’s the option of asymmetric collars. Blah, no thanks. I like the Chicago flag stars on it, but the black-and-white half-collar just looks ridiculous.

9. New York Rangers (2014)

The Rangers reached back to their Gretzky days for inspiration for these jerseys, closely replicating the stripe pattern on the sleeves, collar and base of the jersey. The colours/outlines of the numbers are also the same. But they added in the shoulder yokes from the 2014 Stadium Series jersey template and, of course, switched out quadruple-outlined super-spiky Lady Liberty logo for their classic diagonal text. It’s not a horrible jersey, but the “New York” being forced to be chromed because of the league just makes it look out-of-place. The sleeve stripes are a little too complex given the relative minimalism of the rest of the jersey too and look odd because of that. And there’s the issue of the blue being way too dark compared to their usual colours, which looks flat during the game. There’s good and bad, so the middle-of-the-pack is a good place to put this jersey. And it’s better to just ignore it. But again, kudos to Lundqvist for doing something creative, like having pinstriped pads and gear to pay homage to the Yankees.

8. Los Angeles Kings (2014)

I’ve changed my mind a bit about this jersey. Originally, it was way down the list. Last year, it’s jumped up all the way to sit right outside the podium. This year, middle of the pack. There’s still issues, like how the light grey looks more like dirty white. And there were other possibilities, like bringing back the purple and/or yellow and using them on these updated Stadium Series jersey templates. But sometimes, when you see a jersey in action during the game, it works better than it does seeing it static. There’s enough black and white thrown in with the grey to give it a lot of contrast and movement, and actually worked against a sheet of white ice. The “LA” shoulder patch still looks good and I’m glad they used some shoulder yokes. So, it gets a bump up the list. But it still doesn’t work on their 50th anniversary jerseys.

7. Chicago Blackhawks (2014)

Yeah, these jerseys are pretty minimalist and cool-looking, but black?! C’mon, what is this, the late-’90s? Aren’t we over this black jersey phenomenon yet? The biggest problem with the black jerseys is that they made the chromed-up logo look incredibly cheap, because of the deep richness of the black. Against the black hair on the logo, it looks more like dark grey. In that sense, these are the worst jerseys in the whole Series in terms of working with the logo. Take the logo out of the equation and they’re pretty nice. Simple but strong red and white stripes along the sleeves and bottoms to barely keep them from looking like black pyjamas (take note, Anaheim). It still might have been nice to have seen red shoulder yokes on these.

6. Detroit Red Wings (2016)

The jersey is essentially a reversed version of their original 1926-27 Cougars jersey, but with the stripe put on a slant and taken off of the back, and made to look more modern. Which seems to be its main detriment. It’s a jersey that is trying to be old and new at the same time. It looks over-designed, but at the same time, it’s clean and minimalist. It looks like an on-brand Red Wings jersey, but also feels out-of-sync. So, it’s neither an outstanding jersey, nor an awful jersey. I don’t really mind it, but I’m definitely not in love with it.

5. Colorado Avalanche (2016)

The first Colorado Avalanche outdoor jersey definitely hits some good marks. Overall, these are some pretty nice looking jerseys and it’s nice to see the home team wearing white (as it should be). Its clean simplicity will work well in the context of the venue, and it’s one of the better Stadium Series jerseys we’ve seen yet. But there’s minor details take it slightly down a notch, like the black-hole sun, the black collar, needing a stripe along the bottom. Minor details maybe, but it keeps it a little bit down on this list.

4. Pittsburgh Penguins (2017)

For a special one-off event like the Stadium Series, the Penguins ticked all the boxes: unique, interesting, on-brand, great details, Stadium-Series-esque. It’s well designed and conceptualized, but there’s some small mis-steps like the stencilled numbers and the while collar triangle, and they wouldn’t work as part of the full-time Penguins jersey roster. But for what they are, you can’t help but see these as a win for the Penguins and the Stadium Series jersey library as a whole. And Pens fans should be ecstatic to see a fully gold jersey again. (By the way, thanks Penguins for getting some great high-production unveiling photos.)

3. New York Islanders (2014)

The only team to really introduce a new, or alternate, logo to the Stadium Series was the Islanders, removing everything from their current logo except for the “NY”. It makes for a more iconic, but strange and modern, logo (kind of like this highrise). Again, it just needs to get rid of the chrome though. The rest of the jersey is solid, with just enough orange to compliment the blue, and keeping the super-thick stripe pattern that the Isles have on their current jerseys, a look they’re using well. The white shoulder yokes are unexpected and stand out a little bit too much, but overall, this is a solid jersey design for something like the Stadium Series, given the template their working with in terms of what the NHL gave them and their brand’s colours. And they even become their third jersey…for one season. Which is waaaaaay better than their previous thirds, not to mention their current ones as well.

2. Pittsburgh Penguins (2014)

This was the jersey that best used the mandated 2014 Stadium Series jersey template/design restrictions that were obviously given to the teams by the league. Everything on it just works. The striping along the bottom works well. They knew that these stripes would work just fine if it didn’t wrap around the whole sleeve. Even adding the strip of Vegas gold to the shoulder yokes is a nice touch that compliments the rest of the jersey well. The whole thing looks classic and forward-thinking at the same time, which is what that league appears to have been going for with the Stadium Series as a whole. Easily, this one was the best of that bunch.

1. Minnesota Wild (2016)

Minnesota is quietly developing one of the best modern sets of jerseys in the entire league and this latest addition – combining the simple and minimalist modernism of the Stadium Series jerseys with distinctively Minnesota Wild branding elements – is excellent. All the elements works together perfectly: colours, stripes, minimalist, modernism, simplicity, details, etc. It sets a new high bar for Stadium Series jerseys. Touchdown Minnesota. Get it? Stadium Series? Touchdown?

No, nothing public that I’m aware of…and really, I’m making educated guesses on the templates. But, for some years (like 2014 and 2015 especially) the template is a lot more obvious. This year, especially, that seems to be loosening and teams are getting more freedom to play around with their own design. Even the numbers on the Penguins’ jerseys this year aren’t as massive as the Flyers.

That Hawks 2016, is by far the best of the bunch. But i guess at some point you have to be bias to the team. After all, the jerseys are just cookie cutter jerseys for that year. That’s why the hawks one stands out more for me, it didn’t look like it was the same pattern as the rest.

Are you kidding me??? The 2017 penguins stadium jerseys have got to be the ugliest jerseys I have seen. Too much ugly yellow and the overall design is just awful. Plus with the yellow helmets? Good god. I felt bad for them when they revealed them.